A variety of communication methods by the use of computer networks have been developed in recent years in accordance with the growth of the Internet. Such methods include chat systems, multi-user and real-time communication methods. Chat systems have widely replaced traditional telephones and electronic mail. A chat system is a means through which typed conversation is sent from a sender to a recipient via a computer network, namely the Internet, almost instantly.
A client computer may be linked to a network through a server computer. Such a client computer running a software application allowing one user to chat with another user on the same network can be termed a “chat client.” “A virtual space” may be defined as the chat network created by the users chatting via chat clients and matching servers (also referred to as chat servers). A conversation forum, or channel, is created between the users chatting via the chat clients. Thus, a “chat system” is a communication method characterized by chat users who share numerous virtual spaces.
A chat user is identified by a user-selected chat service name. A chat user may chat by multiple chat services and therefore can have multiple service names, each representing an account (e.g., chat service account) associated with a chat server. A user may have multiple chat services that are associated with the same chat server (e.g., a mobile account and a non-mobile account). Unfortunately, when a user wishes to send a chat message to another user having multiple chat services, the sender must determine which chat service to use to send the message, and/or determine which chat service the receiver is logged into. In addition, certain types of chats (e.g., video chat) require both sender's device and receiver's device to have certain capabilities (e.g., camera). As a result, when a sender initiates such a chat, the sender must determine and select a receiver's chat service that supports such a capability.